Set Free
by what89
Summary: Portal 2 verse. With a certain core put in charge, Aperture Laboratories experiences its most moronic era of all times. And GLaDOS faces her demons, accompanied by a lunatic and a brand new test subject. Will she be able to get up to New Aperture and take her rightful place back?
1. The New Subject

**Hey everyone! Apparently, Portal belongs to Valve. Only this story and my character Dawn belongs to me.**

 **Hope you enjoy this story!**

* * *

She watched the test subject wipe the sweat from her forehead before exiting the chamber.

 _Tired?_

Well, she had a large stack of test chambers and an infinite capacity to create even more test chambers.

And this one was new. A new test subject, exactly!

GLaDOS had no idea how this one made it after all those years, but the fact was just over there, on the subject's files. In stasis since Aperture Science's "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day".

No significant brain damage, either. So, this one wasn't mute and didn't have homicidal tendencies.

 _Hopefully_.

"Are you going to keep smudging your disgusting bodily fluids onto the panels, or are you going to proceed to the next test chamber?"

This test subject was honestly intriguing, though - she did have a couple of great comebacks when she insulted her, and that gave her a rather... _different_ testing experience.

"Yes, precisely doing that."

Two portal shots, and then the dull thump of a camera landing on a white panel.

 _Vital testing apparatus destroyed._

"You probably have a billion of these, so there's actually no point and also, no harm of taking these down."

GLaDOS could see the young woman smirk, and honestly, for a sudden, she was unsure if she was enjoying that or bluntly hating it.

There was something familiar about this one. As if she had seen her before. Even before the incident. Even before the "Bring Your Daughter to Work" Day. Maybe she had seen her. Maybe she was one of those scientists' daughters, who worked on those horrific cores.

But none of this mattered to GLaDOS at the moment.

What mattered the most, was that this girl, Dawn Williams, was a good test subject. Along with that lunatic, of course.

Because two was certainly better than one.

The elevator descended once again, with Dawn inside, who was indeed happy with her situation, humming a song to herself. She surprisingly could remember things from her past, after all those years of sleep - for instance, she knew who was trying to instruct her during the test but chose to nag at her instead. The Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System of Aperture Science, the very last project to be completed. It was sad, really, the scientists had no idea on what she really was, and what she could become; and she didn't understand what had been going on back then.

It all had ended with a bang.

Neurotoxin.

Dawn wasn't being judgmental of the AI, though she sometimes wished that she would chill.

When the elevator came to a halt, a tad bit sharper than usual, Dawn jumped, dragged out of her thoughts in less than a second.

Was GLaDOS mad at her for that camera? Maybe she really was, sometimes she did get so childish.

"What was that, you were almost going to make me throw up all those delicious beans."

Normally, a sentence like this would immediately draw a response from GLaDOS, but at the moment, there was a delay. More than twenty seconds. Also, the constant buzz of the speakers was absent.

She wasn't here at all.

Dawn shot two portals, and dropped yet another camera to test her instead.

No response.

Maybe she is really giving me the silent treatment, Dawn thought.

She picked up the camera and dropped it in the goo pool nearby.

Still nothing.

"GLaDOS?"

The only thing she could hear was the constant airflow through the vents.

There was something wrong. Terribly wrong. For such an omnipotent, witty and bitter AI, this was wrong in all ways.

A loud, screeching sound - metal against metal - proved her right.

Stuff was happening, and Dawn had no idea.

The only thing she could do for now was to solve the test chamber. Without that, she absolutely had no way to reach the back of a simplest panel. Because, protocol.

So, she went right on it, like a lioness after her prey.

 _Portal here._

 _Portal there._

 _Grab the cube._

 _Jump right in the orange one from a height._

 _Fling._

 _Toss the cube on a button._

 _Profit._

The doors which led to the elevator hissed open, accompanied by an unfamiliar voice of a man.

"Congratulations, for solving this test chamber. Please proceed to the next test chamber. And remember: Testing is the future, and the future starts with you."

A roll of eyes, accompanied with a facepalm.

The Announcer.

Looking around with wide eyes, Dawn did not, could not spot an elevator where it had to be. It had fell to its demise, and all the panels in the area were down, _revealing_ a metal catwalk right behind them.

 _Should she go?_

She felt the whole facility shake. _Violently_.

As a result of the "fight or flight" reflex, Dawn rushed towards the catwalk, the Long Fall Boots thudding as she climbed the stairs. She then simply followed the catwalk - there was no other way she could possibly go for!

As she walked, fast, she couldn't help but ponder. What the hell was going on? Yes, this was Aperture, and anything, but anything was possible in here; but not this. GLaDOS would never go silent. This facility would never shake like that, as if it was collapsing because of disrepair. It just _wouldn't_.

Dawn caught her step at the very last second, the catwalk she walked upon was ending there, abruptly, and if she had taken one another step, she would have met her death quicker than anything else.

She could spot the pointy tips of all the ruined panels and such, even from the distance. Not a nice place to land on, not even with the boots.

With a long, heaved sigh, Dawn traced the area, for somewhere to shoot a portal at and get the hell out of that disturbing place. The pit looked deadly enough, and it certainly creeped her out.

"There you are, dammit!"

When she found one portal surface, she almost immediately shot the blue, and that was her fastest portal maneuver ever. She then shot the orange one on a wall next to her, and she let herself fall.

The blue one was over a stable looking platform, and in less than a second, she fell from the ceiling, her boots letting out a very loud clang when her feet touched the ground.

 _Now, what?_

Dawn's eyes went wide in shock when she heard some metal creaking.

The creaking was accompanied by the trembling floor right beneath her.

"Shit."

It turned out it wasn't so stable at all.

Having configured portal shooting as a reflex, she found yet another portal surface and shot the orange one, but before she could get a place for the blue, the whole platform slid right beneath her feet.

"Shit, shit, shi-"

The horizontal platform she had stood on was now _vertical_ , barely hanging on somewhere - probably more scrap panels were holding it , and Dawn was clinging at the rails for her life. The sudden fall had snatched her portal gun away from her - she could simply stare at it as it fell, the orange light of it visible in the dark. Then, it drained down to nothing.

"Crap."

She then held the railing with both hands, managing to pull herself up, to somewhere she could stand on. It was hard, honestly hard, when mingled with adrenaline and the fear of accompanying her portal gun and _dying,_ but her feet were on the railing after a couple of minutes.

She was shaking, she did not certainly want to look down to that monstrosity - _how_ did that happen anyway? Maybe the supporting pillars weren't good enough.

The truth was right there, though.

Dawn had no choice but to jump. She only had to guess the safest place to jump. Guess, huh? In Aperture, guessing simply did not work. But it was her one and only choice.

She eventually began scouting, and started looking for a place less deadly to jump on. The platform didn't help at all - it did seem stable as it now stood vertically, though she wasn't sure of that.

Dawn wasn't sure of anything at that moment. Without a portal gun, what was the possibility of her staying alive in this facility? Even if she _did_ stay alive, for how long would that keep up?

After minutes full of squinting, some sparkle on her right caught her eye. She kept observing...nothing was protruding out of there, it didn't seem so deadly - actually, the only thing she could see was some light.

Better than broken panels, Dawn thought.

And then...she jumped.


	2. The Fall

**AN: I do not own Portal.**

 **I only own this story and Dawn Williams. Heh.**

 **Hope you enjoy it! ( And feel free to comment! )**

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She pulled her arms close to herself as she fell - she apparently didn't want to lose a limb or whatsoever. The wind was bashing against her ears, filling them with the highest pitch of the whooshing sound. When she landed, _hard_ , she could hear something crack and break.

Something warm trickled down her left leg. She flinched, and looked down.

 _Glass! Broken glass!_

When her feet hit the glass, of the shards had flinged. The cut wasn't bad though, Dawn had certainly walked roads with worse wounds.

She kept heading towards the light, maybe there was an appropriate way out there. As she walked, one leg following another, the white hue shifted to a red, and a very strong British accent reached her ears.

She did not stop.

"I did this!"

Right there, right at that moment, Dawn could connect the dots. The shards belonged to this Relaxation Vault - heh, if only it could be called one now - and the mere reason for GLaDOS' silence was this blue British core.

Receptacles and the Stalemate Associate Button were unleashed, in the background.

GLaDOS' head was tossed aside.

There was another test subject in the chamber.

 _A freaking core transfer._

And that was when one shard cracked under her Long Fall Boot, drawing the attention of the trio.

"Tiny, little _Wheatley did_ \- oh, 'ello."

The blue core spun the chassis, _her_ chassis towards Dawn. She was busy quirking a brow at him as he did that.

"Um, hi, I guess."

Her green eyes then darted towards GLaDOS' lonely core on the floor. Had her design changed? Because it truly looked different.

It was sleeker, for certain, more...what was the word?

Ah-ha... _sinister_.

But the fact that she had a dimmed optic drew her attention more than the design.

This wasn't a good situation she was in, now, was it?

"Why aren't you testing, young lady?"

Dawn looked up, and her aim wasn't certainly to look at the core.

If her glare could kill, this core would be melting.

"The damned test chamber had no end, because it fell off. Are you sure you are the one who should ask me that? You know, you are connected to the mainframe and such."

The blue core certainly felt attacked there, though Dawn couldn't understand it, as the chamber's hue went a dark red.

Like the color of rotten blood.

"It fell off? Yeah, I-I know that, I...ah...did that on purpose, so, yeah! I am clearly not a moron, and I did that on purpose. I was aware of it, I mean."

She pursed her lips as the core blabbered, taking a couple of steps back.

She had never said such a word like "moron"! But yeah, he was certainly one, for sure. Because, who the hell would break test chambers and all the facility once he goes in charge? Dawn could bet, it probably hadn't even cost this cretin core a picosecond.

"You stay there, I'll get to you later. Ah, what was I saying? Oh, yeah."

The blue core spun the chassis towards the former central core on the floor.

"Tiny little Wheatley did this!"

Dawn could hear the long-oppressed aggression in the voice, as if he held a grudge for GLaDOS for a long time.

"You didn't do anything…"

Now, there was the voice she was accustomed to hear! GLaDOS' voice wasn't the same as before, though, she sounded pretty much exhausted and disgruntled.

The core transfer was...painful, then?

Dawn had no idea on that, but she was sure of GLaDOS' sentience, and capacity for emotions and pain.

"She did all the work!"

Rage and irritance boiled in her tone - if she was still connected, the chassis would be swinging wild with sheer anger.

Dawn took short steps towards what was left of GLaDOS, to see if she could get a reaction from her, or not.

She knew the AI's aggressive nature, she was certain that revenge would be sought, as soon as possible.

"Oh, is that what the two of you think, eh?"

Dawn had knelt by GLaDOS' core at that moment, and she lost her footing, ending up sitting right on her arse.

She hadn't even stated an opinion! Nor had the orange jumpsuited woman - interestingly, Dawn had the light blue jumpsuit while she had the orange one.

She swiftly pulled herself back on her feet, wishing she had her portal gun.

"It's time I did something, then."

 _Shit._

Back on her feet after hearing Wheatley's sentence, Dawn stepped back, as GLaDOS' core went back into the hatch right underneath the humongous chassis.

She couldn't do anything about that, now, could she?

If she tried such a thing anyway, there was a high chance of the blue babbling core slamming the chassis right on her.

And then she'd be dead.

 _Not a clever plan to execute._

 _What now?_

"Don't think I'm not onto you too, lady. You know what you are? Selfish. I've done nothing but sacrifice to get us here! What have you sacrificed? _Nothing_. Zero. All you've done is _boss me around._ Well, _now_ who's the boss? Who's the boss? It's me!"

Those words weren't for her. She was sure of that - yes; that, and the fact that there had been a core transfer were the only things that she was sure of. She turned around to face the orange jumpsuited woman. She searched her for any kind of reaction, akin to what Dawn herself was feeling.

Anger? Worry?

 _She found none of it._

Why, though? Why no emotion? Why no attempt to break out of that goddamned elevator?

If Dawn was there, she would drop the portal gun right away and get her knuckles bloody.

But this woman just stood there, simply glaring at the large chassis of Wheatley.

 _Why?_

The hiss of hydraulics snapped Dawn out of her train of thoughts.

A human was tossed in the chamber.

"See _her?_ "

Dawn connected the dots at once.

This Wheatley had uploaded GLaDOS' consciousness to a human body. _A freaking human._

"At first, I thought a potato would be jus' fine, you know, but then, I found this body laying around, just like you two."

Her eyes scanned the area to find something that could be used as a weapon.

This core was worse than GLaDOS could ever be, this one was _dumb and trying to be sarcastic._ Not a perfect match at all.

"I did it anyway! And look at her now! She lives in that horrendous body, and the sight is honestly amusing!"

On wobbly legs, the woman, GLaDOS, was trying to advance towards her old chassis - the shock of the whole incident probably hadn't passed.

Maybe her shivers were because of pure anger.

"I know you."

Wheatley bowed down to meet her gaze - hell, Dawn was sure he was exaggerating the whole move to humiliate her!

"Sorry, uh, what?"

That was enough to prove her right.

"The engineers tried everything to make me... behave. To slow me down. Once, they even attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere on me. It clung to my brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of terrible ideas."

Arrogance was obvious in the tone of hers, and her body posture was an evidence to that - jaw clenched, hands curled into fists until the knuckles were white, eyes fixed on one point. The blue light of Wheatley's optic hit her face, illuminating her brand new amber eyes.

GLaDOS looked like she could, and _would_ go on a murder rampage at any moment.

"No, I'm not listening! I'm not listening!"

And she wasn't helpless at all. She ended up being such a master in goading Wheatley in a desperate rage fit.

Dawn watched as he twisted the chassis uncomfortably, and she couldn't help but smirk.

He had been really thinking he was superior, hadn't he?

"It was your voice."

"No, no; you're lying. You're lying!"

"Yes, you are the tumor. You are not just a regular moron. You were designed to be a moron."

In the beginning, Dawn had thought GLaDOS was doing a great job with the words...but at the moment, as the Central AI Chamber began to rumble, she was doubting the "great" part.

"I am NOT a MORON!"

Why did this stupid core prove Dawn right at every time, anyway?

Well, dumb and omnipotent, he was so corrupt and so... _predictable._

 _And angry._

In less than a second - or the movement was just too fast for human eye - the largest tool in the hatch hit GLaDOS, hard, flinging her across the elevator behind her.

Broken glass scrambled across the floor, making those little prickling noises as they pooled around the woman's body, merciless against both the panel polish...and the flesh.

Shades of red oozed into the vision, creating the most disturbing contrast ever.

 _Help her._

Dawn's eyes first met the other test subject's gaze, but the contact was broken almost immediately. And she had merely pulled back in the elevator, not even attending to GLaDOS in front of her.

 _Dawn had to help her._

She tenderly stepped forward, as if she wasn't trying to startle her. When she knelt beside her and tried to get her back up and away from the glass, she wasn't very welcome at all.

Her hand was violently snatched away along with a glare, making sure Dawn had got the message.

Do not touch me, you cretin.

Something was wrong...GLaDOS, she didn't recognise her at all. Dawn knew her very well, like the back of her hand - everything that had happened before the Bring Your Daughter To Work Day, their conversations and so on...she even could remember that day.

But the AI just...didn't.

Hurt, she took a few steps back, leaving the AI alone with her own issues.

"Yes you are! You are the moron they built to make me an idiot!"

And the rage was back. It was never absent, anyway, that glare was full of it. GLaDOS hadn't made a comeback to her just as she was doing to Wheatley, though. Maybe she didn't even see her worthy of it.

No. That didn't make any sense.

Wheatley was much, much worse than she was, right?

"Well, how about _now_?!"

The claw came back yet again, hurling towards the defenseless woman.

 _Holy shit._

A hiss reached Dawn's ears as GLaDOS tried to move herself out of its way - the glass was probably poking at her flesh.

Dawn ran.

 _That witty, stubborn woman!_

She was quick enough to drag her out of the way and to toss her in the elevator - that hit wouldn't end up good for her. That would plainly kill her.

"Now who's a moron?! Could a moron punch you into this pit?!"

The elevator was small enough, and they were all confined in there, and Wheatley punching the lift did not help at all. Dawn could feel GLaDOS' glare on her - well, she had touched her without the permission she was never given, but she wasn't feeling guilty of her actions or anything.

She had been dauntless, and no stasis could ever change that.

A sigh escaped her mouth.

Green eyes met amber eyes.

"Well, I can put you back there if you really want to die."

Dawn had to shout because of the constant bashing sound of metal against metal - honest to God, Wheatley was having one hell of a rage fit.

And GLaDOS narrowed her eyes at that one - she hated to admit, even if it was internal, that Dawn's response to her glare was indeed a _good_ one.

"Huh?! Could a moron do that?!"

The elevator finally gave a whine, the metal unable to take the beating anymore.

The ground shook and swiveled.

 _Oops._

"Uh-oh."

And then, they fell.


End file.
